DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The Syrian army launched a massive campaign against Daesh sleeper cells in the eastern countryside of the Hama province in central Syria on Monday, a war monitor reported.
Backed by the Russian air force, the Syrian army and allied fighters started the campaign against the Daesh terrorists in the desert region in the remote eastern countryside of Hama, said the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based watchdog group said the Daesh terrorists have a notable presence in eastern Hama.
It added that the Syrian army set up checkpoints in the area.
Last week, the observatory said intense battles took place between the Syrian pro-government forces and Daesh sleeper cells in eastern Hama.
The Daesh has lost key areas across Syria but still has a presence in the desert region of Hama, Dayr al-Zawr, and Homs provinces.
Two days earlier, a military convoy belonging to militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reportedly came under attack by unidentified assailants in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah.
Syria’s state-run al-Ikhbariyah television news network, citing local sources, reported that the convoy was targeted on the outskirts of the town of Shaddadi as it was heading toward al-Omar oilfield in the neighboring province of Dayr al-Zawr.
Security conditions are reportedly deteriorating in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led SDF in Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces amid ongoing raids and arrests of civilians by the SDF militants, who are supported by Washington.
An American oil company has recently signed an agreement with the SDF.
Elsewhere in the towns of Hawaij and Diban, locals blocked main roads and demonstrated to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops and their allied SDF extremists from the region.
The U.S.-backed militants, in return, brought in reinforcements and kidnapped a number of civilians.